19 Rock Street

George and Hannah Blake

In the 1871 census the house at 19 Rock Street was occupied by George Blake, a draper's porter aged 49 from Wiltshire, his wife, Hannah aged 43 from Thornbury, and their children: William an apprentice baker aged 16 born in Warmley, Alfred aged 14 born in Olveston, Emily aged 11 and Mary Ann aged 9 both born in Thornbury.  They also had one lodger, George Bendall a labourer aged 18 from Bristol.

George was born or baptised in North Wraxall on 22nd June 1823.  George was an agricultural labourer in the early part of his life.  He married Hannah Bendall on 27th July 1846 in Thornbury.  Hannah was baptised on 27th April 1828.  She was the daughter of Meshach Bendall, an agricultural labourer and his wife, Sarah (nee King).

It appears that Meshach was born in Cam and baptised there on 5th January 1797, the son of John and Joyce Bendall.  Meshach married Sarah King in Cam on 7th November 1820 and they lived there for a short while.  However an order was made by the Churchwardens and Overseers of the Poor on 19th March 1821 to remove Meshach and Sarah to Thornbury because they had become chargeable to the Parish of Cam.  This indicates that Meshach must have settled in Thornbury before his marriage to Sarah. 

Meshach and Sarah appeared to live in the Thornbury Poorhouse for several years, at least they were there when their son, John was baptised on 21st October 1827 and when Hannah was baptised on 27th April 1828.  In the 1841 census the Bendall family were living in Gillingstool.  We are not sure where Meshach was in the 1851 census.  Sarah was living in an unidentified house in 'Back Street' (now called Rock Street) with her two sons, George, a mason's labourer aged 29 and William, an agricultural labourer aged 16.  Sarah is either living next door to, or sharing the house with, her daughter Hannah and her husband, George Blake.  Meshach died aged 55 on 31st October 1852 in Thornbury.  Ann Hollister of Horseshoe Lane was the informant of his death.   In the 1861 census Sarah was a widow of an agricultural labourer living with her son, George, a mason's labourer aged 40, both from Cam and a grandson, also named George aged 8 from Thornbury.  In 1871 she is still living in 11 Rock Street, now clearly shown as aged 83.  Her son George a labourer aged 50 is also still living with her.  Sarah died on 21st June 1879 aged 85.

We are fortunate to have been sent several photos of the Blake family by Marilyn Brown, a direct descendent of George and Hannah.  Marilyn has a lot of information about the Blake and Bendall family histories and we will be happy to put you in touch with her if you have an interest in these families.  The two photos shown below are of George and Hannah:

After their marriage, George and Hannah settled in Thornbury - we are not confident in identifying the house or houses they were living in before the 1871 census when they were clearly living next door to the Seven Stars at 19 Rock Street.  Before this we can only say they were in the 'Rock Street' area, although we do know from a document in the deeds of the three houses (16, 18 and 20 Rock Street) that George was living in one of these houses in 1864 when the owner sold part of the garden to John Honeyborne. 

George and Hannah had eight children:  George baptised on 19th September 1847, Sarah Ann born in Siston in 1850 and Mary Elizabeth, both baptised on 13th July 1851, William born in 1855, Alfred born in 1857, Henry baptised on 3rd July 1859, Mary Ann born 29th July 1861 and Ellen baptised on 1st March 1865 and who was buried on 18th April 1869 aged 3 years and 9 months.  The photo on the right below shows Mary Ann and Mary Elizabeth - click on the thumbnail to see larger image.

Marilyn Brown has kindly let us have a copy of a photograph taken of Mary Ann Blake whilst she was attending a school in Thornbury.  Click on the thumbnail on the right to see the full photo.  It is very rare to have such a school photo taken as early as 1866 or 1867 and  we have gone to a lot of trouble in trying to identify which of the Thornbury schools is shown in the photo.  We were particularly worried that the boys clothing looked 'foreign' and we contacted the V&A Museum to ask for their opinion about the clothing worn by the children.  The Curator advised us that 'The clothes are quite reflective of UK children's fashions of the 1850s and 60s (children's fashions were often slow to change), including the little boys in tunics at the front - one of the fashions of the times for boys, though not the only one. There is a slight stylistic debt to an earlier German style of tunics over trousers, but I think that these tunic suits are very British, especially the one with the zig zag trim above the hem.  As they are all worn over trousers, they indicate boys who have been breeched, before which they would have worn dresses'.

Taking into account a lot of factors, like the size of class, age of the headmaster, the standard of dress of the children, height of garden wall etc, we have ruled out the National School and the Council School.  Of the private schools in Thornbury at the time, we think the most likely is the one run by John Champion at his house in Pullins Green.  The wall which would have been at the bottom of their garden still stands (although now outside of the boundary of the garden) and it looks very similar to the one in the photograph.  Mary Ann Blake is the little girl marked with a star above her head!  She is also shown in the thumbnail of the photo on the left  where she is standing alongside her older sister, Mary Elizabeth.

We believe George and Hannah left Thornbury between 1873 and 1875.  In 1873, their daughter, Mary Elizabeth, had a  child, Jane Blake, who was born in Thornbury.  By the time Jane was baptised in 1875 her home was in Redland, Bristol.  The 1876 Rate Book does not list George Blake as living in Thornbury. 

The 1881 census George and Hannah were living in Greenway Bush Lane, Bedminster in Bristol.  George was a coachman and a beer seller.  Hannah's brother, George Bendall, a married general labourer and their grand-daughter, Jane, aged 8, were also living with George and Hannah.  Their son, George and his wife, Jane, were living next door with their daughter, Elizabeth aged 8.  George junior was employed as a baker.

By 1891 they had moved to 20 Greenbank Road, Bedminster.  George is working as a master baker.  Also living with them are Hannah's widowed brother, George Bendall, described as 'living on his own means' and two grandchildren, Sydney and Amy Frampton, both born in Clifton. 

We note that in the photograph of George shown above he is wearing an 'anchor' symbol.  Although we could be several other reasons for this and we have no other knowledge about this badge, it might indicate that he was a member of the Freemasons. 

By the 1901 census George and Hannah had moved to 58 Greenway Bush Lane and George now aged 77 is running a grocery business from his home.  Hannah is aged 73.  Their grandson, Albert Frampton, a baker aged 15 from Clifton is also living there.  Hannah died in 1902 aged 73.  George died in 1906 aged 83.

Of George and Hannah's daughter, Mary Ann Blake, we understand that on 11th July 1880 she married John Edwin Vaughan in the Parish Church of Clifton in Bristol.  John was born in Crumlin in Wales on 4th June 1859, the son of John Vaughan, a journeyman carpenter and his wife, Elizabeth Thomas.  John had moved to Bristol as a young man to work as a hewer in the coal fields.  During 1892 John and Mary Ann were living at 32 Stracey Street, Bedminster, Bristol.  John was working nearby at the Ashton Vale Colliery as a hewer in the mine.  They had three sons and were expecting a fourth when disaster struck on May 3, 1892.  John was killed in an accident at the mine.  Mary Ann went on alone to raise her children in Bristol.

This page was last updated: 29/03/2012